So says an 86 year old scientist named Mayer Hillman in a new article at The Guardian. It’s well worth a read.
A few of his quotes about runaway climate change:
“The outcome is death, and it’s the end of most life on the planet because we’re so dependent on the burning of fossil fuels. There are no means of reversing the process which is melting the polar ice caps. And very few appear to be prepared to say so.”
iBrattleboro.com is now using SSL – a Secure Sockets Layer certificate. It provides an encrypted link between a server and a client—in this case the web site and your browser.
We’re the first local news site in Brattleboro to do this for you, and we join our fellow community media sites BCTV and WVEW in doing so.
Normally, data such as logins and passwords, is sent between browsers and web servers in plain text. This makes a site vulnerable to a “man in the middle attack,” or site spoofing schemes.
Way back in the early 1980’s, my grandmother went on a trip to Europe. When she got back, she had little gifts for everyone, and one of them was a napkin signed by Bob Dylan to my sister Abbie.
It tuns out that she was in a store or cafe and heard a commotion, with people around here saying rather excitedly “Boob Di-lan. Boob Di-lan.” She said she saw the crowd gathering, went over, and got his autograph. I’m pretty sure she had very little idea of who he was.
It was a night of big things for the Brattleboro Selectboard – a big, new fire truck was ordered, and plans for a possible big $32.5m dairy processing facility were presented.
The board got an update on skatepark finances and schedule, tires in the wetlands will be cleaned up next fall, a letter about Act 46 stalled, the leaf pickup schedule is being re-examined, and goals and plans for the coming year were discussed. The board discussed energy matters, compassion, and diversity.
Oh, and for anyone seeking to get a message to Board Chair, don’t send email…
Corporate America seems to have a new formula for “apologizing” when they’ve done something bad and need to improve their PR. We’ve seen it recently with Facebook and Starbucks.
“Even though we’ve done wrong,” they say, “trust us to make it better. You should expect more.” Note that this only comes after being caught.
It sounds great, doesn’t it? They realize the error and will make sure it never happens again.
If it works for CEO’s, then it should work for children.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will receive an update on the skatepark financing and schedule from members of BASIC at their next regular meeting. They’ll also accept a $15,000 challenge grant for the project.
The board will order a new fire truck, discuss dumped tires and clean rivers, consider a letter regarding tax implications of an Act 46 merger, set goals, review rules of conduct, adopt an emergency operations plan, and more. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during Public Participation.
As Brattleboro begins down the path toward adding municipal broadband utility, the ACLU has weighed in with a new report “The Public Internet Option – How Local Governments Can Provide Network Neutrality, Privacy, and Access for All.”
The report compares the necessity of internet access to that of electricity and water, and says that the rollback of net neutrality laws and enforcement threatens equal access (as we have for say, roads and bridges).
The new Photo Fun looks great, and a few have you have already found out how to put photos up. Excellent!
For the rest, you can login and submit a photo by using the Contribute menu in the upper blue bar. This takes you to a simple form for uploading your photo.
Add a title, short description if you want, add your photo, and add tags to describe what’s in the image.
It’s easy to do from a phone or tablet. Take your photo of something in your neighborhood or around town, then submit it here. Your phone should allow you to choose among your recent photos.
Shall we try another “noticed around Brattleboro?”
I’ll start us off with something I saw downtown. There’s new curbing being put in at the north entryway to Harmony Lot. This is the entry that goes under the building. The new curb replaces the former driveway-like entrance, signaling to drivers that it is officially no longer an option to enter through that way.
Wednesday evening was the beginning of some rather strong wind gusts in Brattleboro, leaving many without power, phones, internet service, trees, or some combination of the above by Thursday morning.
We had a meeting in West Brattleboro earlier today. Along the way we passed repair trucks from just about every telecommunications provider. I counted six trucks parked with employees conferring just beyond the Farmers’ Market. There were others.
Permits, plans, and policies dominated the first regular meeting of the newly-formed Brattleboro Selectboard.
Flood plain models and measurements were at issue for a significant portion of the meeting, with little that could be done except make a federal case of the matter. In the end, an agreement to reach an agreement with a property owner was agreeable enough to allow the board to acknowledge the project they have no say in. It was that sort of an evening.
The skatepark approaches, but has not crossed, the fundraising finish line. A revised Town Plan is nearing completion, a re-application for the Downtown Improvement District relies on the Town Plan being approved, and the Heifers have permits to go strolling again this year.
The new Classifieds section is quite nice. So nice that it has its own link in the upper blue bar. (You can use that pull-down menu to get your own classified. More on that later.)
When you get to the Classifieds page, you’ll see a list of all the current ads. Up at the top is a way to search the classifieds, which might come in handy if you are looking for something specific and there are a lot of ads. You can search by keyword or location.
Ethan Sonneborn is running for Governor of Vermont.
As his campaign page says “I’m 13 and running for Governor of Vermont. I believe in protecting our future for young people. That’s why I’m shaking up Vermont politics.
His issues? Universal healthcare, education, youth engagement, a worker’s bill of rights, raising the minimum wage, LGBT rights, energy and the environment.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will get an overview of the revised Town Plan at their first regular meeting with newly-elected members. Public hearings to discuss the plan will be scheduled, too.
Permits for Strolling of the Heifers will be considered, the renewal of the designated downtown district, floodplains, cemeteries, and grants related to housing and the skatepark will be discussed as well. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation.
One of the popular features of iBrattleboro is the old stories featured in Today in History. For the most part, these are taken from the Vermont Phoenix, a Brattleboro newspaper that thrived in the late 1800’s.
On the old site, we loaded them all into a sidebar. This time around we’ve kept a sample of them on the homepage, but given them their own section of the site.
You can get to the page by clicking on the Browse menu, then Today in History.
Continuing our exploration of the new site design, we’ll take a quick look at the directory of local links.
As you might expect, this is our online guide to local businesses and organizations. There are a couple others in town (the Chamber, the town’s list of Business License holders,) but they cost money. We know that small businesses and non-profits don’t have a lot of extra money, and often it is when budgets are tight that some extra, free publicity could be useful. So, free Local Links!
We had this with both other versions of iBrattleboro, but decided this time around to start fresh. All old listings were wiped out (some were very out of date) and we’re starting to fill it back up.
As we get this new version of the site running smoothly, we’ll introduce you to some of the new pages and features. Today, let’s talk about the weather.
First of all, you can get a quick glimpse of the basic current conditions by looking in the upper right corner of the site.
It’s Representative Town Meeting Day in Brattleboro.
Representatives are filing in and getting settled, as are those of us who plan on covering today’s event. I have to say, I’m pretty tired from all the work on the new site, so I especially apologize in advance for spelling errors and such.
Usually, however, as they get into the more interesting debates of the day, this becomes less of a chore and more fun. I’m counting on it today.
It’s the same as before, except different!
Technically speaking, this is version 3.0. We’ve switched the underlying content management system, the site is now mobile-friendly, and everything will soon be encrypted.
Our work isn’t finished, but it is close enough to let you join us as we make final adjustments. It helps to have people using the site actively as we fine tune. You may see a few test items come and go over the next few days, and you will see some definite improvements.
Vermont League of Cities and Towns says:
“Vanu CoverageCo Inc. is a company that provides small cell wireless communications in several communities throughout Vermont. On March 13, 2018, company officials notified the Department of Public Service that CoverageCo would likely cease operations in Vermont due to financial difficulties. CoverageCo was under contract with the State of Vermont to deploy small cell antennas along specific travel corridors. CoverageCo provides limited, wholesale coverage to Verizon Wireless, Sprint PCS, T-Mobile, and U.S. Cellular. Retail users of these services in CoverageCo’s coverage areas may experience a loss in service. Facilities owned and maintained by these retail providers and other providers will not be affected.
